Senator and presidential candidate, John McCain (R-AZ), seems to practice truancy when it comes to Conservative programs that would allow him to explain his policy stance and offer his views to the Conservatives base that may or may not feel he is a legitimate GOP candidate for President.

In the last six weeks, Mr. McCain has been missing from the following events: the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, the Heritage Foundation members’ retreat and the National Review conservative summit.  McCain now declined an invitation to speak at the Club for Growth’s winter meeting later this month.

“The impression McCain is leaving in recent weeks is that he’s not on the playing field where he should be,” says one large GOP donor who contributed to Mr. McCain in 2000 but hasn’t taken out his checkbook this year.

“If he wants to convince people he should be the party’s nominee, he can’t run a media strategy that doesn’t involve meeting people who help decide primaries.”

Mr. McCain will discover he can run but can’t hide as the power’s that decide candidates will find a McCain candidacy irrelevant and a nomination impossible.

Source: John Fund at OpinionJournal’s Political Diary (Subscription)